Walvis Bay
Although Walvis
Bay had already been discovered by Diaz as early as 1487,
it was only founded in 1793 by the Cape Dutch. Two years later it
was annexed by the British. In 1910, Walvis Bay became - like the
entire Cape Colony - part of the South African Union. After Namibia's
independence, the only deep sea harbour on the Namibian coast remained
under South African rule and only in 1994, did the former South
African president F.W. de Klerk agree to return it to Namibia.
Today, Walvis Bay has about 50 000
citizens and seems to be quite a busy town. Most people are employed
at the modern harbour terminal and in the booming fish industry.
Another production branch is the processing of sea salt. The salt
fields of Walvis Bay cover an area of 3500 hectares and annually
produce 400 000 tons of high quality salt.
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